Both Nation Ford's boys’ and girls’ teams off to slow start

Both the Nation Ford girls’ and boys’ basketball teams didn’t get off to the start they had hoped for after dropping games to Andrew Jackson and Lancaster last week.

The Falcons girls’ team fell to defending 3A state champion Lancaster Bruins 43-33 in a tightly contested game. Nation Ford was led by Haley Fulton, who scored 15 points. Nation Ford played strong at times, but was hampered with turnovers and was consistently out-rebounded by the Bruins.

The Falcons were down 30-21 to start the final quarter and Lancaster, led by Melia Rivers, who led all scorers with 28 points, came out aggressive. Rivers scored 11 of her 28 points in the final quarter, including hitting the only 3-pointer in the game for Lancaster.

The Falcons struggled from the field, getting just nine shots off in the quarter and hitting only two of them. The majority of Nation Ford’s fourth quarter points came from the free throw line, where the Falcons went 7-12.

Earlier in the week, Nation Ford held strong with Andrew Jackson, but couldn’t overcome early shooting woes from the field and fell just short, 38-30.

Fulton led the Falcons in that game with six points. Nation Ford rallied in the second half to pull within 10 points on a couple of occasions, but couldn’t close the gap.

Boys misfire late

Shooting woes also plagued the boys’ team against Lancaster, especially in the fourth quarter, as they lost 58-52.

Nation Ford hit just three of 14 shots in the final quarter and Lancaster took the lead at 44-43 to open the final period. Lancaster trailed the majority of the game and at one point in the second quarter, the Falcons had them down 29-9 before the Bruins started chipping away.

The Falcons were led by Zeb Graham’s 12 points and Will Lawhon’s 10 points.

Turnovers also stalled the Nation Ford offense as the Falcons committed 26 in the game. The third quarter was the real key for Lancaster as Nation Ford held a 35-21 lead at the half, but the Bruins outscored them 21-8 in the third quarter to rally and get within striking distance. In the third quarter, the Falcons hit just three of 11 shots from the field.

Earlier in the week, Nation Ford lost to Andrew Jackson 63-52 as the Volunteers from Kershaw County controlled the game from the opening tip. The Falcons struggled shooting the ball in the first quarter and went down 22-8 after eight minutes of play and were never able to recover.

The Falcons made a game of it with a rally in the second quarter to cut the Volunteers’ lead to six points at the half, but could never seem to get momentum swinging their way for long.

Andrew Jackson started the second half off by pressing Nation Ford and the Volunteers were too much on the boards as they out rebounded the Falcons with the help of strong post play from their forwards.

Nation Ford was led in scoring by Cameron Holmes, who dropped in 14 points, and Lawhon, who scored 11.

Busy week ahead

Nation Ford has another full plate of basketball this week. Both squads will play three games, two of which will be against Fairfield Central and the other will be the season series finale against Andrew Jackson.

The second game against Fairfield Central will be at home Friday starting with the girls’ at 6 p.m., followed by the boys’ game.

This story was originally published December 7, 2015 at 10:26 AM with the headline "Both Nation Ford's boys’ and girls’ teams off to slow start."